Robert blogs on art, creativity, politics, CSA, religion and culture. Many overlap into multiple categories, like motivational or random favorites. Robert is a life-long artist, writer, musician & actor, a professional creative his entire adult life. Born in 1959 in Detroit, he has lived in New York, New Orleans and currently in Charleston. His commission portraits and fine art are part of over a thousand collections throughout North America. Read his bio.
BLOG CATEGORIES
ALL BLOGS
Loyalty vs Truth
Who is Innocent? And Who is Guilty? Here’s an update on the alleged sexual assault allegedly attempted on my daughter, Mary by our trusted and beloved neighbor. It allegedly happened while under my direct supervision, just out of sight, under water, in his pool. He...
Freedom from Consequences
Pleasure vs. Enjoyment Though we often confuse these two distinct emotional states, there is a huge difference and relationship between them. Pleasure, a source of arousal, is the product of the human desire for love, power and money, which all too often seem to be...
The N Word
This horrific photo, taken in the 1940s, reminds me of when I was nine or ten, my neighbor friend used to yell the n word at the shopping news delivery man from his porch in our suburban Detroit neighborhood. I tried to get my friend to stop his taunting but he...
We Are Wired to Believe in Miracles
Waiting for the Miracle Here's the routine. First, Donald Trump says something misleading, racist, or illegal. Then, when people actually call him out, he says he was only “joking” or he denies ever having said it. The latest is Trump’s dangerous urging of North...
A Dark World View
In the Introduction (below) to his tell all book about Trump, his self describe consigliere, Michael Cohen, describes Trump as someone who assumes that “everyone is as corrupt and ruthless and shameless as he is.” That is the best explanation for how on Earth there...
Online Painting Instruction
Online Painting Instruction and Virtual Learning Robert has created a series of live streaming videos available to rent or purchase. There is lots of free content, as well as paid, on subjects ranging from drawing what you see, releasing your creative genius to...
Learning Can Be Painful – Part One
Here is my response to a fascinating blog about my Alma Matter/professional acting school, Circle in the Square. Much of what we learned at Circle was about neutralization, where the goal is to find our neutral, so we might then add or take away any color, behavior,...
Learning Can Be Painful – Part Two
Is the Old School Effective? In Learning Can Be Painful - Part One, I didn’t get into my experiences in music school with my clarinet teacher. Nor did I delve into my experiences learning the craft of painting from my father. These, and many of the examples I describe...
A Virtual Art Opening
In these tricky times, it is often difficult to get out and enrich the soul. As so many creatives are doing now, Robert leads you on a virtual tour of his work, now on exhibition at Uncork Charleston. Rob's artist talks are always fascinating and filled with...
NETI Statement of (His Lack of) Purpose
I am that I am not. I am Neti. See NETI RUN (Remove Unnecessary Nonsense) "There is a war on beauty in the world. There is a war on intellectualism. There is a war on history where only the new is cool. But the only new thing is that which has not yet been experienced...
The Quench Project – Overview
MEDIA RELEASE 2-25-25 For more information please email Robert or contact him by phone at 843-486-3161. Here's the latest on The Quench Project I am now sponsoring two extraordinary individuals whom I met in Haiti, back in 2015 at the Bread Of life Orphanage in...
Heritage Lost and Found
Our Public and Private Dramas, Played Out Through Art Last week the White House moved the portraits of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush from a place of prominence. Taken alongside Mr. Trump's unwillingness to dedicate the official portraits of the Obamas, it seems...
Would you like to get inspiration in your inbox, rather than ads for more stuff? Welcome to ManiscalcoGallery.com
Maniscalco Gallery on Facebook
The figures in "A Walk in the Park" are the inner cast you carry everywhere—the fool who leaps, the doubter who drags his feet, the dreamer who stares past the horizon, the judge with crossed arms, the child who still believes. They bicker, whisper, revolt and reconcile, but together they make the one you call “I.” We are all onstage at once, caught in the thin light between meaning and emptiness—a reminder that your chaos is not a flaw, but the chorus through which your true voice finally emerges. ... See MoreSee Less
... See MoreSee Less
This content isn't available right now
When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted."Identity and Self"
Opening Reception and Exhibition at
Park Circle Art Gallery
4820 Jenkins Ave.
North Charleston, SC 29405
The Exhibition runs through April 26
Gallery Hours: W-F 10:30-5:30, Sat 12-4
The collection will center on how identity interferes with our true self, our true freedom, which is a central value for an artist, as well as any self-actualized individual. For instance, when I draw my idea of a thing, rather than opening myself up to the full potential contained in the thing itself, I am limiting my creative potential.
So, who are we at our core, after we strip away the names we call ourselves, the parties with whom we affiliate, the causes for which we are fighting? After all, these are all inventions of the ego, which separate us from God and the infinite. Existence consists of light on form. Light is my medium as an artist. I am a painter of the self. I am looking always for something deeper than the surface representations in my subjects. It is the true self I am looking for when I paint, whether it is an orange, a sky or a judge. ... See MoreSee Less
“The Fantasy” oil on canvas 36" x 48", invites you into that lucid dream space where imagination feels more vivid than reality. In this oil painting, a solitary figure drifts through a dreamlike landscape of softened edges and impossible light. But the story is not fixed—you’re handed a doorway.
This piece lives in the uncertainty between escape and awakening. At first glance, it feels like a beautiful dream: rich color, fluid forms, and a sense of effortless drift. But stay with it, and you begin to notice the undercurrent—a quiet question about what we run toward, and what we’re trying to leave behind.
For the thoughtful collector, “The Fantasy” becomes a mirror for their own inner world. It speaks to anyone who has ever built a private refuge in their mind: the daydreamer, the creative, the survivor, the seeker who knows that fantasies can be both sanctuary and trap. The painting doesn’t judge that impulse; it honors it, and gently asks what new possibilities might emerge when we begin to bring those inner visions into the light of our real lives.
Hung in a living room, bedroom, or reading space, “The Fantasy” doesn’t just decorate a wall—it opens a conversation. With its layered symbolism and emotional depth, it’s the kind of work people return to, again and again, discovering new details and meanings as their own story evolves. ... See MoreSee Less
"Three Little Buds" is a framed #oilpainting looking for a new home. “Three Little Buds” captures a tender moment of becoming: three rosebuds held in that brief, luminous stage before they open. The dew on their petals hints at fresh beginnings and quiet resilience after the rain. This piece speaks to anyone who feels on the edge of a new chapter—honoring both the vulnerability and the promise of what is about to bloom.
“Three Little Buds" is about beginnings and the quiet power of what hasn’t fully unfolded yet. I painted them at that in-between moment—still closed, but clearly full of life and color, with the dew clinging to them after a fresh start.
For me, the three buds might suggest three children / three important relationships / three versions of ourselves at different times, held together in the same space of light and nurtured by potential energy. The droplets are a reminder that renewal often comes right after the storm; there’s a softness and resilience there.
It’s a painting for someone who connects with the idea of growth, protection, and the beauty of what’s just about to bloom or has bloomed in their own life. ... See MoreSee Less
Here's the entire portrait. I love judicial portraits. What do you think of this portrait? Know anyone who wants a portrait legacy created? A portrait is how people know us when we're gone. ... See MoreSee Less